Cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner with a cyclone body comprising an air inlet port and air discharge port, which forms a cyclone stream in air including dusts drawn in through the air inlet port. A dust collecting receptacle is removably connected to the cyclone body for collecting dust separated from air by the cyclone stream. A grill assembly is disposed at an end of the air discharge port inside the cyclone body for preventing dust from flowing back through the air discharge port of the cyclone body, and a fine dust filtering means is disposed at a downstream end of the grill assembly of the cyclone body for separating fine dusts which has not been separated by the grill assembly.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and moreparticularly, to a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuumcleaner disposed at an extension pipe of the vacuum cleaner forseparating and collecting foreign substances (hereinafter called ‘dust’)included in the air by generating a cyclone stream in the drawn air.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional cyclone-type dustcollecting apparatus 10 for a vacuum cleaner comprises a cyclone body20, a dust collecting receptacle 30, and a grill assembly 40.

[0003] The cyclone body 20 comprises an air inlet pipe 21 connected toan extension pipe 1 a (See FIG. 2) of the suction port side of thevacuum cleaner, an air discharge pipe 22 connected to an extension pipe1 b of the vacuum cleaner body side, an air inlet port 23 fluidlycommunicating with the air inlet pipe 21, and an air discharge port 24fluidly communicating with the air discharge pipe 22, where the cyclonebody 20 generates a cyclone stream in the dust-laden air drawn inthrough the air inlet port 23.

[0004] The dust collecting receptacle 30 is removably connected to thecyclone body 20 and collects dusts separated from air by the cyclonestream formed by the cyclone body 20.

[0005] The grill assembly 40 is mounted at an end of the air dischargeport 24 inside the cyclone body 20 and prevents the dusts collected inthe dust collecting receptacle from flowing back through the airdischarge port 24. The grill assembly 40 comprises a grill body 41, aplurality of paths 42 formed on the outer circumferential surface of thegrill body 41 to fluidly communicate with the air discharge port 24, anda dust blocking member 43 disposed at an end of the grill body 41.

[0006] Such conventional cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for avacuum cleaner structured as above has the air inlet and discharge pipes21, 22 fluidly communicating with the extension pipes 1 a, 1 b of thevacuum cleaner as shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly, dusts, together withair, are drawn in through the air inlet pipe 21 in an oblique directionwith respect to the cyclone body 20 by a suction force generated at asuction port E of the vacuum cleaner, and the drawn in air flows towardsthe bottom of the dust collecting receptacle 30 forming a cyclonestream. In this process, the dusts included in air are separated fromair by a centrifugal force and collected in the dust collectingreceptacle 30. Air flows towards the cleaner body B through the paths 42of the grill assembly 40, air discharge port 24, and air discharge pipe22 by the cyclone stream reversed at the bottom of the dust collectingreceptacle 30 and rising up having a radius smaller than that of thedescending cyclone stream.

[0007] The cleaned air towards the cleaner body B is discharged outsidethrough a paper filter (not shown) provided in the cleaner body B, andthus, fine dusts which are not separated by the cyclone dust collectingapparatus is filtered by the paper filter and collected.

[0008] Such cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus is capable ofreducing the amount of dusts collected by the paper filter as the dustsin air drawn in through the suction port E of the cleaner is initiallyseparated and collected before the paper filter of the cleaner body Bfilters the dusts.

[0009] However, such conventional cyclone-type dust collecting apparatuscannot prevent fine dusts smaller than the paths 42 flowing back throughthe paths 42 together with the discharged air although it caneffectively separate and collect the dusts larger than the paths 42 ofthe grill assembly. As a result, reversing fine dusts are collected inthe paper filter provided in the cleaner body B and the amount of thedusts collected in the paper filter increases. Accordingly, the lifespan of the paper filter is shortened and an improvement with respect tosuch a problem is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to providea cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner, which hasa second filtering means for filtering the minute dusts in air reversingalong the air path of the grill assembly, and thereby reducing theamount of dusts to be filtered at the paper filter and extending thelife span of the paper filter.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object and/or other features of thepresent invention, there is provided a cyclone type dust collectingapparatus for a vacuum cleaner including a cyclone body comprising anair inlet port and air discharge port, thus forming a cyclone stream inair including dust drawn in through the air inlet port. A dustcollecting receptacle is removably connected to the cyclone body forcollecting dust separated from air by the cyclone stream. A grillassembly is disposed at an end of the air discharge port inside thecyclone body for preventing dusts from being flowing back through theair discharge port of the cyclone body, and a fine dust filtering meansdisposed at a downstream end of the grill assembly of the cyclone bodyfor separating fine dusts which has not been separated by the grillassembly.

[0012] The fine dust filtering means includes a filter mounting portionformed on the cyclone body and has an opening portion open in adirection orthogonal with respect to the air discharge port, and afilter assembly removably inserted into the filter mounting portion.

[0013] The filter assembly includes a filter case having an externalshape corresponding to a shape and structure of the filter mountingportion, and a fine dust filter connected to the filter case.

[0014] A part of the filter case which comes in contact with the openingportion of the filter mounting portion has a packing member disposedthereon for sealing.

[0015] A grip portion is provided on a front surface of the filter casefor easy handling.

[0016] As the cyclone type dust collecting apparatus has relativelylarge particles of dusts separated from the drawn air by the grillassembly, and fine dusts separated secondly from air by the fine dustfiltering means disposed at a downstream end of the grill assembly, itthus has less dust presented to the cleaner body. As a result, theamount of dust to be filtered at the paper filter is greatly reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above aspects and other features of the present inventionwill become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodimentthereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

[0018]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a generalcyclone-conventional type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuumcleaner;

[0019]FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing FIG. 1 assembled;

[0020]FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a general conventionalcyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner mounted toan extension pipe of a canister-type vacuum cleaner;

[0021]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a cyclone-type dustcollecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment ofthe present invention; and

[0022]FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing FIG. 4 assembled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0023] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. With respect to theelements identical to those of the cyclone-type dust collectingapparatus shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, like reference numerals will beassigned and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0024] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the cyclone-type dust collectingapparatus 10 for a vacuum cleaner according to one embodiment of thepresent invention comprises a cyclone body 20, a dust collectingreceptacle 30, a grill assembly 40 and a fine dust filtering means 50.

[0025] The cyclone body 20 comprises an air inlet pipe 21 connected toan extension pipe 1 a (See FIG. 5) of the suction port side of thevacuum cleaner, an air discharge pipe 22 connected to an extension pipe1 b of the vacuum cleaner body side, an air inlet port 23 fluidlycommunicating with the air inlet pipe 21, and an air discharge port 24fluidly communicating with the air discharge pipe 22, where the cyclonebody 20 generates a cyclone stream in the dust laden air drawn inthrough the air inlet port 23.

[0026] The dust collecting receptacle 30 is removably connected to thecyclone body 20 and collects dusts separated from air by the cyclonestream formed by the cyclone body 20.

[0027] The grill assembly 40 is mounted at an end of the air dischargeport 24 inside the cyclone body 20 and prevents the dusts collected inthe dust collecting receptacle from flowing back through the airdischarge port 24. Such grill assembly 40 comprises a grill body 41, aplurality of paths 42 formed on the outer circumferential surface of thegrill body 41 to fluidly communicate with the air discharge port 24, anda dust blocking member 43 disposed at an end of the grill body 41.

[0028] The fine dust filtering means 50 separates the fine dust flowingback through the paths 42 of the grill assembly 40 without priorseparation by the grill assembly 40, and comprises a filter mountingportion 60 and a filter assembly 70.

[0029] The filter mounting portion 60 is disposed at one side of thecyclone body 20, and has an opening portion 60 a open in the directionorthogonal with respect to the air discharge port 24.

[0030] The filter assembly 70 is removably inserted into the filtermounting portion 60, and separates fine dust included in the dischargedair through the air discharge port 24. The filter assembly 70 comprisesa filter case 71 and a fine dust filter 72.

[0031] The filter case 71 has an external shape corresponding to theshape and structure of the filter mounting portion 60, and the fine dustfilter 72 is fixed to the filter case 71. It is preferable that the finedust filter 72 is made of a porous material such as sponge. In addition,it is preferable that a part of the filter case 71 which comes incontact with the opening portion 60 a of the filter mounting portion 60has a packing member 71 a disposed thereon for sealing. The referencenumeral 71 b in FIG. 4 is a grip portion enabling easy handling of thefilter assembly 70.

[0032] The cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleanerstructured as above according to the present embodiment has air inletpipe 21 and air discharge pipe 22 fluidly communicating with theextension pipes 1 a, 1 b of the vacuum cleaner as shown in FIGS. 3 and5. Accordingly, dusts, together with air, are drawn in through the airinlet pipe 21 in an oblique direction with respect to the cyclone body20 by a suction force generated at a suction port E of the vacuumcleaner, and the drawn air flows towards the bottom of the dustcollecting receptacle 30 forming a cyclone stream. In this process, thedusts included in air is separated from air by a centrifugal force andcollected in the dust collecting receptacle 30.

[0033] Air, from which dusts are initially separated by the aboveoperation, flows towards the cleaner body B through the paths 42 of thegrill assembly 40, the fine dust filtering means 50 and air dischargepipe 22, is disposed at the air discharge port 24, and by the cyclonestream is reversed at the bottom of the dust collecting receptacle 30,and thus rising up with a radius smaller than that of the descendingcyclone stream.

[0034] The fine dusts still remaining in the discharged air after thegrill assembly 40 are separated secondly by the fine dust filteringmeans 50 of the filter assembly 70. Air cleaned at the above two stagesis discharged towards the cleaner body B.

[0035] Air discharged towards the cleaner body B is finally dischargedoutside via a paper filter provided in the cleaner body B.

[0036] As described above, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatusfor a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention has relativelylarge particles of dusts separated from the drawn air by the grillassembly and fine dusts secondly separated from the air by the fine dustfiltering means, and thus has the amount of dusts presented to thecleaner body significantly reduced.

[0037] According to the present invention as described above, fine dustfiltering operation by the fine dust filtering means significantlyreduces the amount of dusts flowing towards the cleaner body andtherefore extends the life span of a paper filter.

[0038] Accordingly, the number of paper filters changed may be reducedand the life span of a paper filter can be extended thereby reducing themaintenance costs.

[0039] Although a few preferred embodiments of the present inventionhave been illustrated and described, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited tothe described preferred embodiments, but various changes andmodifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for avacuum cleaner, comprising: a cyclone body comprising an air inlet portand air discharge port, thus forming a cyclone stream in air includingdusts drawn in through the air inlet port; a dust collecting receptacleremovably connected to the cyclone body for collecting dusts separatedfrom air by the cyclone stream; a grill assembly disposed at an end ofthe air discharge port inside the cyclone body for preventing dusts fromflowing back through the air discharge port of the cyclone body; and afine dust filtering means disposed at a downstream end of the grillassembly of the cyclone body for separating fine dusts which has notbeen separated by the grill assembly.
 2. The cyclone type dustcollecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, whereinthe fine dust filtering means comprises: a filter mounting portionformed on the cyclone body including an opening portion open in adirection orthogonal with respect to the air discharge port; and afilter assembly removably inserted into the filter mounting portion. 3.The cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaneraccording to claim 2, wherein the filter assembly comprises: a filtercase having an external shape corresponding to a shape and structure ofthe filter mounting portion; and a fine dust filter connected to thefilter case.
 4. The cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuumcleaner according to claim 3, wherein a part of the filter case whichcomes in contact with the opening portion of the filter mounting portionhas a packing member disposed thereon for sealing.
 5. The cyclone typedust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to claim 3,wherein a grip portion is provided on a front surface of the filter casefor easy handling.